IT CAME AS NO SURPRISE that my taxi driver at the Bordeaux airport didn't know where Pomerol was. Clambering into the back of his car, I was prepared for this eventuality. After a quick look at my map and a hurried conversation via a mobile phone to his friend, we were off, in his words "beyond Saint-Émilion."

If wine isn't your thing, there really is very little point in visiting Pomerol. This pocket-size appellation northeast of Bordeaux always seems to be deserted. Apart from its sandstone-colored châteaux, its only discernible features are a primary school, a nondescript square and a large, imposing church.

But for the wine lover, walking through its carpet of vines, country lanes and medieval houses, Pomerol represents an enchanting wonderland. Here, the Merlot grape thrives on its clay, sand and gravel soil, producing red wines that are intense, unctuous, easy to drink and age-worthy.

Drinking Now

Such is the popularity of the wines from an area no wider than eight square kilometers that the very best examples, Pétrus and Le Pin, are two of the most sought-after in the world, commanding in excess of £2,000 a bottle.

But it wasn't always the case. As
Jacques Thienpont,
owner of Château Le Pin told me when I spoke with him at the winery in 2011, apart from Château Petrus, which has always enjoyed a good reputation, Pomerol's wines a half century ago were regarded as very much inferior to their counterparts across the Gironde estuary in the Médoc. This history of Pomerol is entertainingly recorded in British wine writer
Neal Martin's
new book "Pomerol," released in December by Wine Journal Publishing. Easy to read and peppered with references to contemporary music, the book will no doubt appeal to the less formal wine lover, too.

My first port of call was Château La Conseillante, where I was getting a sneak preview of the 2012 vintage, which will be officially unveiled next month. Winemaker Jean-Michel Laporte has made a very expressive 2012, with polished tannins and La Conseillante's signature velvety texture.

Next, I headed over to Vieux Château Certan, where winemaker
Alexandre Thienpont
(a cousin of Jacques) has managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat, making a supple, elegant wine in challenging growing conditions.

Nothing much happens in Pomerol, so it came as something of a surprise to find the English radio and television broadcaster
Chris Evans
roaring around the roads in his Bentley GT convertible. Mr. Evans was exploring the wine route with his wife,
Natasha Shishmanian,
helped along by English vigneron and owner of Château Bauduc Gavin Quinney, who was acting as their guide. I know Mr. Quinney, so after a quick call we met for a glass of Pomerol at Les Sources de Caudalie Spa, nestled in the vineyards opposite Château Smith Haut Lafitte. They had been visiting châteaux Clinet and Le Pin, which Mr. Evans said made his favorite wine of the trip.

It was the musician
Jools Holland
who introduced Mr. Evans to fine wine. The two men were dining at London's Le Pont de la Tour restaurant when Mr. Holland deftly navigated his way around the fine wine list, ordering a 1978 Pommard. No sooner had it arrived than Mr. Holland sent it back; it was spoiled. "I thought 'Oh my God!' " says Mr. Evans. "Who goes to a fine wine list, then orders a '78 Pommard and then sends it back? The waiter then said 'Thank you Mr. Holland for making us aware of our error.' I thought, this is amazing."

I left Pomerol to explore the "grander" wines of the Left Bank, but given what I had tasted of the 2012 vintage, I thought this tiny appellation has made very good wines, once again.

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